The Tibetan Empire disintegrated after the assassination of Langdarma in 842 CE. Central
authority was not restored for four centuries.

[The imperial Tibetan troops had already started to withdraw from the border
regions of China, Burma, and the Silk Route in Central Asia during Langdarma’s reign and, soon
after his death, many small buffer states sprung up in these areas. Tibetan language and Buddhist
culture, however, continued to play a large role in these buffer states for several centuries
afterwards. In the formerly Tibetan-controlled areas of Amdo, Gansu, and the Tarim Basin, for
example, these states included

Tsongka (Tsong-kha), which lasted in the Kokonor region of Amdo until 1182

the city states the Yellow Yugurs (866 – 1028) in the Gansu Corridor

Guiyijun (848 – 890s) in the region of western Gansu around Dunhuang

Karakhoja (866 – 1209) of the Qocho Uighurs in the oases along the northern rim of the Tarim
Basin.

Until at least 920, the Tibetan language was used for commercial and
diplomatic purposes in the Gansu Corridor and along the Silk Route as far as Khotan, since it was
the only common language of the various peoples there. Some Chinese Buddhist texts were even
transliterated into Tibetan letters for ease of recitation.

Scholars in these areas translated Buddhist texts from Tibetan into various
other languages. For example, beginning in 930, Tsongka scholars translated texts from Tibetan into
Uighur (Yu-gur).

After the establishment of the Tangut state (Mi-nyag, Chin.
Xi Xia) (982 – 1227) in southern Gansu and present-day Ningxia, to the east of Amdo,
Tibetan Buddhist texts were translated into the Tangut language starting in 1049, although the
majority of the texts in the Tangut Buddhist canon were translated from Chinese. The Tibetan
language had been widespread in the Tangut regions, however, from even before the founding of its
state. Thus, the Tibetan alphabetic script was used to transliterate the extremely complex Tangut
ideographic script that had been promulgated in 1036.]

After the assassination, Langdarma’s sons vied with each other for the throne. [By 929, the line of Namde Wosung (gNam-lde ‘Od-srung), the son of Langdarma’s senior queen, eventually came to rule in Ngari
(mNga’-ris), Western Tibet, the territory of the pre-Buddhist kingdom of Zhang-zhung; while
the line of Ngadag Yumden (mNga’-bdag Yum-brtan), the son of his junior queen, came to rule in U (dBus), the eastern half of Central Tibet. The kingdom of Ngari eventually included not
only Western Tibet, but also a large stretch of the southern flank of the Pamir Mountains and the
Himalayas, from Gilgit in present-day northwestern Pakistan, through eastern Ladakh, Spiti in
present-day Himachal Pradesh India, and up to and including present-day northwestern
Nepal.]

The other regions of Tibet fragmented into many small states, each with its own ruler (sde-dpon) and fortress (rdzong). They alternately fought and allied with each other.

Although Langdarma’s sons hid away many Buddhist statues and texts for safekeeping and the lay
tradition of tantra continued even in Central Tibet; nevertheless, the monastic community there
came to an end. Three monks, however, fled to [the Tsongka kingdom in] Amdo and there, with the help of two Chinese
monks, continued the Mulasarvastivada line of monk ordination.

Soon, ten youths from Central Tibet [led by Lumey Tsultrim-sherab (Klu-mes Tshul-khrims shes-rab)] traveled there to study and receive the monk’s
vows. [They then brought the ordination lineage back to U in 912, after its absence
there for seventy years, and built seven new temples. These included Gyel Lhakang (rGyal Lha-khang), built by Lumey’s disciple Nanam Dorje-wangchug (sNa-nam rDo-rje dbang-phyug). Buddhist traditional sources, however, date the building of
this temple at 1012.]

During the second half of the tenth century, the King of Ngari, Tsenpo Khorey (bTsan-po Kho-re), abdicated his throne in favor of his brother, Song-ngey (Srong-nge), and became a monk. He is known to posterity as Lha Lama Yeshey-wo (Lha bla-ma Yes-shes ‘ od).

Wanting to reverse the decline of Buddhism in Western Tibet, Yeshey-wo sent twenty-one young men
to Kashmir in 971 to learn Sanskrit and study Buddhism. Of these, only Rinchen-zangpo (Rin-chen bzang-po, 958 – 1051) and Legpay-sherab (Legs-pa’i shes-rab) survived the journey, eventually developing into renowned translators.
While studying in Kashmir and the famous monasteries of northern India, they sent back to Tibet
several learned Indian scholars. These scholars represented several Indian Buddhist schools, though
primarily the tantra tradition of Mahayana.

Yeshe-wo continued to invite Indian masters to Tibet. Among them was Dharmapala (Dha-rma pa-la), who together with the Indian disciples who accompanied him, started the
second Mulasarvastivada monk ordination line in Tibet. The ordinations they conferred mark the
beginning of a period in Tibetan history known as the “Later Flourishing of the Teachings” (bstan-pa phyi-dar). [The prior period became known, by contrast, as the “Earlier Flourishing of
the Teachings” (bstan-pa rnying-ma.)

Other traditional Tibetan sources give as the starting point of this later
period Lumey’s ordination, and they date this at either 973 or 978. It is these traditions that
date the founding of the Gyel Lhakang by Lumey’s disciple at 1012.]

[Rinchen – zangpo and Legpay-sherab returned to Ngari in 988. As part of this
later flourishing period, Rinchen-zangpo founded several new monasteries there. Among them was Tabo
Monastery (rTa-po dgon-pa) in Spiti, built in 996.] In the same year, Yeshe-wo founded Toling
Monastery (mTho-ling, sometimes spelled
mTho-lding) in Guge (Gu-ge).

[During this period, the Ghaznavids, under Mahmud of Ghazni (r. 998-1030),
conquered present-day Pakistani and Indian Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and the regions around Delhi.
Due to the heavy damage that Mahmud’s forces inflicted on the Buddhist monasteries in the area,
many monks sought asylum in Ngari. So many eventually fled there, that in the 1020s the Ngari King
passed a law restricting foreigners from staying in the country more than three years.

It was under these unsettled circumstances that,] in his latter years,
Yeshey-wo invited Atisha (Jo-be-che dPal-ldan A-ti-sha, 982 – 1054) to come to Tibet from his monastery,
Vikramashila, in central North India. He hoped that the Indian master would be able to help not
only reestablish Buddhism in Tibet, but also resolve confusion based on differences among the
schools. He sent Gyatsonseng (rGya brTson-‘grus seng-ge) to deliver the invitation, with presents of gold. Atisha
refused the presents and declined the invitation, explaining that he was needed in India to halt
the decline of Buddhism that was taking place there.

Yeshey-wo believed that Atisha had refused because not enough gold had been sent, so he went to
the Qarluq (Gar-log) king in order to obtain more. The Qarluqs were a Turkic group living northwest of
Ngari. Unfortunately, the Qarluq king threw him in prison.

Jangchub-wo (Byang-chub ‘od), a grandnephew of Yeshey-wo and also a monk, attempted to gather enough
gold to ransom his granduncle from the Qarluq. Yeshey-wo told him to use it instead to convince
Atisha to come, and ultimately Yeshey-wo died in prison.

[Having established the Qarakhanid Empire (840 – 1137), the Qarluqs remained
friendly relations with their former military allies, the Tibetans, even after Langdarma’s
assassination. In the 930s, the Qarluq/Qarakhanids converted from a mixture of Buddhism and Turkic
shamanism to Islam. The western branch of the Qarakhanids, which had been centered in Kashgar,
attacked Khotan in 982 in their drive to gain control of the southern Tarim Basin branch of the
Silk Route. They maintained a siege of the oasis state until 1006.

Traditional Tibetan sources explain that Yeshey-wo was imprisoned during a
war that the Qarluq/Qarakhanids were waging in Nepal. John Brough (“Legends of Khotan and Nepal,”
Bulletin of the School of African and Oriental Studies, vol. 12) has demonstrated,
however, that the Tibetan name for Khotan, “Li,” along with many legends concerning Khotan, were
transferred and projected by the Tibetans onto Nepal. Thus, one could infer that Yeshey-wo
encountered the Qarluq and was imprisoned when he went to the defense of Khotan during the
siege.

Shakabpa, however, in his two volume history, makes no mention of any battles
in relation to this incident. Instead, he relates that the Qarluq King gave Jangchub-wo a choice –
give up all efforts to invite Buddhist masters from India to Tibet, pay a ransom of gold equal to
Yeshey-wo’s weight, or have Yeshey-wo executed. This choice that Jangchub-wo was given suggests
that this incident most likely occurred after the Qarluq’s conquest of Khotan. Having converted
Buddhist Khotan to Islam, the Qarluq King seemed to be against any further strengthening of
Buddhism in Tibet.]

[David Snellgrove (Indo-Tibetan Buddhism: Indian Buddhists and Their Tibetan Successors) writes that this
account of Yeshey-wo’s death in the Qarluq prison is apocryphal. As evidence, he cites that in 1027
Yeshey-wo issued an edict to regulate the translation of Buddhist texts and that, according to
Rinchen-zangpo’s biography, Yeshey-wo died of illness in his palace in Toling. Rinchen-zangpo
himself performed the funeral rites. However, if Yeshey-wo went to the Qarluqs on a peaceful
mission to request financial support, it is reasonable, considering that Atisha arrived in Toling
in 1042, that this mission occurred after 1027. Still, Rinchen-zangpo’s biography contravenes the
traditional account of Yeshe-wo’s death in prison.

As a side note, 1027 was also the year that the
Kalachakra Tantra teachings were first brought to Tibet, based on the translations from
Sanskrit into Tibetan by the Indian pandit Bhadrabodhi and the Tibetan translator Gyijo (Gyi-jo Zla-ba’i ‘od-zer). This year also marks the start of the Kalachakra-style calendar
in Tibet, with the first sixty-year calendar cycle
prabhava (rab-‘byung, Skt.
prabhava).]

Jangchub-wo sent Nagtso (Nag-mtsho Lo-tsa-ba), an accomplished translator, to India with the gold and another
invitation to Atisha. On receiving the invitation and hearing the story behind it, and after
receiving direction from the Buddha-figure Tara, Atisha agreed to go to Tibet for three years. He
arrived at Toling in 1042. While there, he revised translations and wrote
Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment (Byang-chub lam-gyi sgron-ma, Skt.
Bodhipathapradipa).

In 1045, as Atisha was returning to India, he was joined by a layman, Dromtonpa (‘Brom-ston rGyal-ba’i ‘byung-gnas) (1004 – 1064), who wished to study under him. The road
through Nepal was blocked by a civil war [which lasted from 1039 – 1045], and so Dromtonpa asked Atisha to
visit Central Tibet instead. Atisha agreed and, after visiting Samyay Monastery near Lhasa, stayed
mostly at Nyetang (sNye-thang) [in U] before dying in 1054.

[While visiting Samyey, Atisha was amazed at the huge number of Sanskrit
texts preserved at the monastery’s library. He remarked that even in India it was not possible to
find such a large collection. This indicates that Langdarma’s persecution had been directed at the
Buddhist monastic institution and not at the Buddhist teachings themselves.]

[Some of the older Buddhist monasteries, such as Samyay, survived in Central
Tibet from the earlier flourishing of the teachings and were once more filled with Tibetan monks by
the time of Atisha’s arrival there. In addition, some new monasteries had been built there as well
by this time. For example, Zhalu Monastery (Zha-lu dgon-pa,
Zhva-lu dgon-pa) had been built in Tsang in 1040 by Chetsun Sherab-jungnay (lCe-btsun Shes-rab ‘byung-gnas), two years before Atisha’s arrival in Ngari. It later
became an important center of Sakya scholarship.]

Atisha had named Dromtonpa as his successor. In 1057, Dromtonpa founded the Radreng Monastery (Rva-sgreng rGyal-ba’i dben-gnas) in U, where he continued to teach until his death in
1064. He shaped Atisha’s teachings into a new school of Buddhism called “Kadam” (bKa’- gdams). A second Kadam monastery, Sangpu-neutog (gSang-phu sne’u-thog-gi dgon-pa), also in U, was built in 1073 by another of Atisha’s
disciples, Ngog Legpay-sherab (rNgog Legs-pa’i shes-rab).

[In 1076, King Tsedey (rTse-lde) of Ngari convened the Council of Toling at Toling Monastery of Ngari. He
gathered together translators from the western, central, and eastern regions of Tibet, as well as
several Kashmiri and northern Indian masters, in order to coordinate their translation work. In
1092, Prince Zhiwa-wo (Zhi-ba ‘od) of Ngari issued an edict setting the standards for determining which Buddhist
texts were reliable. The main criterion for authenticity was whether a Sanskrit original for the
text existed. Soon, Sangpu-neutog became an important center for translation, as well as for
learning and debate.

A further major Kadam center of learning, Nartang Monastery (sNar-thang dgon-pa), was founded in 1153 in Tsang. It later became a center for the
printing of Buddhist texts. Although some traditional Tibetan sources date the founding of Nartang
at 1033 and ascribe its founding to the Kadam master Tumton Lodro-drag (gTum-ston Blo-gros grags), this is anachronistic, since Atisha first arrived in Ngari only
in 1042. The difference of 120 years between the two dates suggests confusion concerning the
sixty-year Kalachakra calendar-cycle in which the founding took place.]

[Other traditions of the “Later Flourishing of the Teachings,” known
collectively as the Sarma (gSar-ma) or New Schools, also began to build monasteries at this time. For
example,] in 1073, the same year as the founding of Sangpu-neutog, Sakya Monastery (Sa-skya dgon-pa) was founded [in Tsang (gTsang), the western half of Central Tibet] by Kon Konchog-gyelpo (‘
Khon dKon-mchog rgyal-po). The monastery gave its name to the Sakya (Sa-skya) School.

[The non-Buddhist tradition of Bon also built its first monastery at this
time. In 1072, Drujey Yungdrung Lama (Bru-rje g.Yung-drung Bla-ma) founded Yayru Ensaka Monastery (g.Yas-ru dBen-sa-kha dGon-pa), also in Tsang. He built the monastery to establish a debate
tradition to study the texts recovered from the walls of Samyay by the first great revealer of Bon
treasure texts (gter-ston), Shenchen Luga (gShen-chen Klu-dga’) (996-1035). The first hidden Bon treasure texts had been found by
accident at Samyay in 913 by a shepherd.]

[The first Nyingma (rNying-ma) treasure texts were revealed by the monk Sang-gyay Lama (Sangs-rgyas bla-ma), toward the end of the tenth century or the beginning of the eleventh.
“Nyingma,” the Old School, was the name given to Padmasambhava’s Buddhist tradition in contrast to
the “Sarma,” the New Schools. Sang-gyay Lama found them in a temple and in nearby rocks in Ngari.
Their transmission, however, soon died out after him.

In 1038, Drapa Ngonshey (Gra-pa mNgon-shes) (b. 1012), however, discovered several Nyingma treasure texts concealed
at Samyay. He also revealed
The Four Glorious Tantras of Medical Knowledge (gSo-ba rig-pa dpal-ldan rgyud-bzhi), which had also been concealed at the monastery. The
transmissions of the texts that Drapa Ngonshey found did continue after him.

Although several pre-Langdarma monasteries, such as Samyay, had revived and
become centers of what now became known as the Nyingma tradition, the first new Nyingma monastery
of this period was not built until 1159. This was Katog Dorjeyden Monastery (Ka:-thog rDo-rje gdan dGon-pa, Kathog Monastery), founded in Derge District (sDe-dge) Kham (Khams), Southeastern Tibet, by Ka Dampa-desheg (Ka Dam-pa bDe-gshegs) (1122-1192).]

Next was the construction of Tsurpu Monastery (Tshur-phu dgon-pa) in 1189 by the First Karmapa, Dusum-kyenpa (Kar-ma Dus-gsum mkhyen-pa) (1110-1193). The First Karmapa was a direct disciple of
Gampopa. Tsurpu Monastery became the center of the Karma Kamtsang Kagyu (Kar-ma kam-tshang bKa’-brgyud) School and the center for the line of Karmapas that
followed.]

[The first major monastery of the Drugpa Kagyu (‘
Brug-pa bKa’-brgyud) School, Namgyipur Monastery (gNam-gyi phur dgon-pa) was built in 1205 by Tsangpa Gyaray (gTsang-pa rGya-ras Ye-shes rdo-rje) (1161 – 1211). Tsangpa Gyaray was a disciple of
Ling-raypa (gLing Ras-pa Pad-ma rdo-rje) (1128 – 1211), who in turn was a disciple of
Pagmodrupa.

Thus, by the time the Tibetans became aware of the Mongol threat of Chinggis
Khan (Genghis Khan), the major monasteries of the major schools of Tibetan Buddhism and Bon had
already been established in Tibet. Later, various Mongol Khan’s supported one or another of these
Tibetan Buddhist Schools.]